Smoke Screen
by VoicesOffCamera
Summary: "James had thought he had known Sirius so well after all their years of friendship, but as it turned out you only knew as much about someone as they wanted you to know." Sirius is hiding a dark secret. Will his friends figure out what's wrong before it's too late? [One Shot]


**Author's Note:** One quick thing to note with this story. This is a bit of a companion piece to one of my other one shots called Smoke and Mirrors. If you've read that, this takes place after that story. If you haven't read that, no worries because this stands on its own, but if you like this story then you might want to check out that one as well.

 **Trigger Warning:** Talks of self-harm and suicide.

* * *

 **Smoke Screen**

"James. James, wake up!"

James groaned as he rolled away from the source of the voice, trying to burrow deeper into his warm blankets. There was a beat of silence in which James immediately started to doze off again. Then, suddenly, his warmth disappeared and his eyes snapped open as he yelped at the sudden bite of the cold air.

"Oy!" he cried as he quickly sat up and pulled his knees to his chest in attempt to warm himself. He blinked, glancing around the darkened dormitory but couldn't make out much without his glasses. "What the hell?"

"Here, get up," a voice said, shoving something into his hands.

James fumbled with his glasses for a minute before he managed to get them on his face and then it took him another moment to focus on the figure next to his bed.

"Moony, what the hell?" he mumbled. "What time is it?"

"It's almost two in the morning," Remus informed him.

James blinked at him. "Okay," he said slowly. "Then I ask yet again… _what the hell_?"

"Sirius is gone."

It felt like a cold stone had dropped into his stomach as James stared at Remus dumbly for a solid minute as this information sunk in to his only half conscious mind. Then, very suddenly, the stupor fell away and he felt wide awake as he pushed himself to the edge of the bed, sending a glance over at Sirius' bed, which was indeed disturbingly empty.

"Are you sure he's not just in the toilet?" James asked, impatiently rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Or down in the common room? You know how he takes to smoking at the window down there when he can't sleep."

Even in the dark, James could practically hear Remus rolling his eyes at him. "Of course I'm sure," he said, annoyed. "I even checked the corridor outside the Tower, there's no sign of him."

"Shit," James spat as he searched the floor by his bed for some shoes.

Sirius Black had been James' best friend for all five years they had been at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They were practically inseparable and had each other's back through thick and thin. James cared for Sirius as if he were his own flesh and blood.

Because of this, he could tell right away that when Sirius had returned to school after this past summer holiday that something had changed. Despite many invitations that were extended, none of the Marauders had seen Sirius all summer, his parents not permitting him to leave the house except for family events. This had been unusual, as Sirius had never been denied every single invitation to visit his friends before. Apparently they had also kept a closer eye on him than usual since he hadn't even been able to sneak out of the house as he had done on several occasions in the past.

At first, it seemed like Sirius just had a little more than his usual restlessness when they returned back to school. But it quickly became obvious to his close friends that there was something off about him this year. He didn't settle back into their routine with lighthearted pranks. There was something... darker about Sirius Black this year. His pranks seemed crueler, often pulling over the top pranks that went out of his way to embarrass students in the middle of classes and meals in the Great Hall, and his laughs at others' expense seemed more menacing. His grey eyes held a cold detachment that James had never seen in his best friend before. But of course, Sirius being who he was, he would never admit that anything was wrong.

All this led the rest of the Marauders to see just how unstable Sirius was this year. When they were in the privacy of their dormitory, they could see cracks in his façade. His smile would drop away so quickly upon crossing the threshold that it was hard to imagine that it was ever there at all. The storm behind his grey eyes would shift from angry to desperate, though it was unclear what exactly he was desperate for. They could all see that their friend was on the verge of completely breaking apart. But whenever they tried to talk to him about it, they could see Sirius hastily putting the pieces of himself back in place, laughing off their concerns in a way that made him look almost unhinged.

And with this sudden disappearance from the Tower in the middle of the night – something he had never done by himself in their five years here at school – James was afraid that he had finally broken.

It took James and Remus no time at all to pull a respectable amount of clothing on, before hurrying out of the dormitory. As they passed through the common room, James couldn't help but search the space despite Remus' assurances. Many times over the course of the last year and a half, James had woken in the night to use the toilet, only to return and notice that the curtains around Sirius' bed had carelessly been thrown open to reveal an empty space. Every time that happened though, James would descend into the common room to find his friend perched on the sill of one of the open windows, slowly smoking a cigarette.

But just as Remus had said, the common room was deserted.

They were in the corridor just outside of the portrait hole before they stopped, glancing around. It wasn't until this moment that they realized just how big the castle really was.

"Where would he go?" James wondered out loud.

Remus shook his head. "I don't know," he admitted. "He could have gone anywhere."

Recognizing that there was no logical place to start since this was not a logical situation to deal with, they headed in a random direction in search of their friend. They ended up heading down to the kitchens and then up to the Astronomy Tower, the path encompassing a wide range of the castle. They had to dodge Filch's cat a few times, but other than that the corridors were deserted this time of night.

"Maybe we should head back to the Tower," Remus suggested after they had been searching for almost an hour. "For all we know he could be back by now."

James was contemplating that as they went around a corner, thinking that Remus had a good point. But as they came around the corner they both stopped in their tracks. James had to fight his instinct to duck back around the corner to hide from the sudden figure. But it was quickly obvious that the person up ahead wasn't any kind of authority figure that would get them in trouble. No, this person was slumped over in the corridor, seeming to be only sitting upright with the aid of the wall behind him.

"Merlin," Remus breathed as he took in the scene.

Suddenly James was moving forward without remembering making the decision to do so. The figure's face was obscured by a mess of black hair, but still James would know him anywhere.

"Sirius?" James said worriedly, kneeling down and reaching out toward his friend. His eyes searched him for some kind of injury, some reason why he was sitting here in the corridor at three in the morning.

Sirius' head shifted in his general direction, but as his hair fell to one side James could see that he wasn't quite looking directly at him. His eyes were glassy and blood shot as he mumbled something unintelligible. James furrowed his brow before he leaned in and inhaled deeply through his nose. The smell hit him like a ton of bricks and suddenly his concern that his friend was somehow hurt, perhaps the victim of some sort of attack, melted away as he felt annoyance build up within him.

"What's wrong with him?" Remus questioned, looking down at the two of them.

"He's drunk," James spat. "He reeks of firewhiskey and smoke."

There was a beat of silence.

"Where did he even get firewhiskey?" Remus said, confused. "That's not something they generally keep stocked down in the kitchens."

"Maybe he broke into a professor's office?" James said, shrugging one shoulder. But then something dawned on him. He glanced up the corridor ahead of them. "Or… the One-Eyed Witch statue isn't far away…"

"You think he went to Hogsmeade?" Remus said with a start, his eyes widening. "Alone?"

"I think he's becoming impossible to predict these days," James said flatly, running a hand through his hair and sighing heavily. Then he leaned forward, grabbing one of Sirius' arms. "C'mon. We have to get him back to the dormitory before that damn cat comes along again."

But Remus didn't immediately move to help him. James shot him a questioning look.

"Do you think we should?" Remus asked slowly.

"Should what?" James said, confused.

Remus took a deep breath as if gathering his courage. "Do you think we _should_ help him?"

James blinked dumbly at him for a moment. "What are you talking about?"

"There's something wrong, James," Remus said.

"Well I sure as hell know that," James snapped.

But Remus went on as if he hadn't spoken. "He won't talk to us. Maybe letting him get caught wasted in the corridor will be a wakeup call that he needs. Maybe a good tongue lashing from McGonagall or Dumbledore will make him see reason."

"You know it doesn't work like that for him," James said quietly. "If he gets caught and punished, he's going to carry that around like a badge of honor."

He looked back down at Sirius as he started to tip over, tightening his grasp on his arm to keep him from falling flat on the floor. His eyes were only half open and he didn't seem at all aware of the conversation that was going on around him, mumbling words every so often that James couldn't make out. The Marauders were no strangers to alcohol, having snuck it up into their dormitory on many occasions, but even so James had never seen Sirius so drunk before.

"You never make it easy on yourself, do you mate?" James mused softly.

"Let's get him up," Remus said, suddenly appearing on Sirius' other side. There was no trace of the conflict in his features that had been there a minute ago, obviously realizing that James was right about what would happen if Sirius got caught.

The two hoisted Sirius up between them. He swayed unsteadily on his feet and groaned as he hung his head, James guessing that the world was spinning uncomfortably around him. They started leading him back down the corridor, but paused as Sirius suddenly tensed, took several deep breaths… and hiccoughed.

Remus looked over at James wearily. "Fair warning," he said dryly. "If he vomits, I'm going to drop him."

James nodded. "Understandable," he agreed solemnly.

It was slow going as they headed back up to the Gryffindor Tower. Sirius was still conscious and on some level he seemed to know that he should be walking, but he kept on stumbling or his knees kept on giving out, impeding their progress. It was frustrating trying to drag him along, and James was aware that he was gripping Sirius a little harder than he really needed to. Sirius had done this to himself and now they had to clean up his mess. Not to mention, it was now after three in the morning on a school night. James was convinced that his irritation with the situation was completely justified.

Finally, at long last, they made it back to the Tower. But as it turned out, they hadn't even reached the hardest part. Now they had to get Sirius up the stairs to their dormitory, which was on the top level of the Tower.

"There's no way," Remus said, already a bit short of breath after dragging Sirius through half the castle as he looked up the steep staircase that wound up to the upper levels of the Tower. "We're going to have to levitate him."

"Yeah, good idea," James agreed, trying to mask the fact that he was breathing a bit harder than normal as well.

As it turned out, levitating their drunken friend up a steep and narrow spiral staircase was easier said than done. More than once, Sirius' head bumped against the ceiling or his feet dragged on the stairs. Sirius groaned and his eyes were half open, but it was clear he was not fully conscious at this point. Finally, at long last, they pushed open the door to their dormitory, both James and Remus letting out a sigh of relief.

"Wha' th'…?" came a mumbled and slightly slurred statement.

James rolled his eyes. " _Now_ he comes back around?" he said with exasperation. "Let's just drop him on his bed. I'm ready to pass out myself."

Working together, they levitated Sirius – who was now blinking sleepily and glancing around himself – over to his bed, dropping him a bit abruptly. Sirius gave a small yelp of surprise, but James didn't think much of it. All he was thinking about was trying to get in a few more hours of sleep before they had to crawl out of bed for breakfast.

"Where…" Sirius moaned from his bed as James was already crawling into his own bed.

"You're back in the dormitory," James said shortly. "Try and wander off in the middle of the night ever again and I'm going to start charming your curtains shut at night."

He reached up to pull his curtains closed again, but hesitated as he saw that Remus hadn't gone to his own bed yet. He was still standing at the foot of Sirius' bed, looking at him a bit strangely.

"Sirius?" Remus said slowly.

Suddenly, Sirius shot out of bed and was running across the dormitory, disappearing into the bathroom. Just a moment later there was the unmistakable sound of him getting sick.

James sighed heavily. Apparently the night wasn't over just yet.

He dragged himself back out of bed, unable to rest until he knew that Sirius was definitely okay, no matter how annoyed he was with him. Remus was already standing in the doorway of the bathroom, looking over at where Sirius was knelt in one of the toilet stalls.

"Well, at least he hit the toilet," James sighed.

"There's something wrong with his arm," Remus said quietly as if he hadn't heard James speak.

James furrowed his brow as he glanced over at Sirius, who was heaving the contents from his stomach into the toilet, but otherwise seemed perfectly fine. He looked back over at Remus, convinced he had misheard him.

"What?" he asked.

"His arm," Remus repeated. "His left arm. His sleeve came up when he was laying on the bed and I could see there was something wrong with it. I think he might have been bleeding."

James still didn't feel too much concern at these words. If there had been anything seriously wrong with Sirius, he would have noticed as he had checked him over when they first found him. Still, James felt curious as he turned back to Sirius and took a few steps forward in an attempt to get a better look at him. His friend was still hunched over the toilet, gripping the edges in an attempt to steady himself.

At first, James couldn't tell what Remus had been talking about. But then, as Sirius leaned back in between heaves, his am dragged across the toilet seat, pulling his sleeve off to one side. James gave a start at what he saw. There were unmistakable red circles that dotted the inside of his left forearm. Dozens of them. Some of the marks were faded, while others were bright red – clearly fresher than the other marks – which could understandably have been mistaken for blood at a glance.

"What…?" James murmured as Sirius leaned forward and heaved yet again. That was becoming concerning in itself… how much had he drank tonight?

"They look like cigarette burns," Remus pointed out quietly.

James swallowed and closed his eyes against the implications of that statement. Sirius had started smoking when he was fourteen. The other three Marauders all started smoking casually within the last year, but Sirius was practically a chimney with the way he had taken to Muggle cigarettes. No one had thought much of the habit, it was just something Sirius did to ease his nerves and – if they were being honest – to look cool.

But now James wondered if that was the entire truth. Was his best friend hiding a darker pain from him? Was that even possible?

It felt like the weight of the world was suddenly pushing down on him. James took a few steps back before he slowly lowered himself to sit on the floor, suddenly feeling too tired to keep himself upright. He leaned back against the wall as he watched the scene in front of him with a vacant expression. Remus retreated with him, leaning up against the wall next to him.

They were quiet as they watched the display of Sirius vomiting in the toilet go on for several more minutes. Finally, Sirius hit the lever to flush the toilet as he sat back on his heels and he wiped sweat from his brow with his sleeve, slightly out of breath from the ordeal. He shifted around until he was leaning back against the side of the stall, closing his eyes and rubbing his face with both hands. As he did so, his sleeves fell and James could once again see the small circles that marred his skin. His stomach clenched at the sight.

Sirius opened his eyes and glanced over to where his two friends were – James still sitting on the floor with Remus standing next to him – seeming vaguely surprised to see them.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "Did I wake you?"

James raised an eyebrow at how coherently he had spoken, even if his words were still a bit unsteady. Clearly getting sick had sobered him up some.

"Do you remember how you got here?" James asked. Sirius considered this for a minute, which gave James all the answer he needed. He sighed heavily. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Sirius shrugged, frustratingly calm about the whole thing. "I couldn't sleep. I went for a walk, had a few drinks… guess I went a little overboard." He smirked, but the gesture didn't quite meet his stormy eyes.

"You had a few drinks… _where_?" James asked, fixing Sirius with a hard gaze that held none of its usual humor.

Sirius seemed taken aback, but whether that was because of James' tone or the strangely parental question was unclear. "I was wandering by the One-Eyed Witch statue and decided to pop over to Hogsmeade for a few minutes. You know that bartender at the Hogs Head will pass over some firewhiskey if you slip him a few extra Galleons."

" _Some_ firewhiskey?" Remus cut in, and even James was surprised by the anger in his voice. "The way you were throwing up just now you must have gone through several bottles at least!"

Sirius looked back and forth between the two of them blankly. "I don't see what the big deal is. It's not like any of us have never had a few too many before." Then he gave them a lopsided grin that seemed strangely out of place. "All my friends are doing it."

For a split second, Remus was so angry, that it seemed Sirius' sarcasm went right over his head. "If all your friends decided to jump off the Astronomy Tower—No, don't answer that," he cut himself off, seeming to realize halfway through what he was saying that Sirius had been trying to make a joke. But when he looked over at James, there was pain in his eyes. As if he had also been afraid of an honest response to the question. He tried to cover up his worry though as he spoke with exaggerated exasperation, still focusing on James. "Why do I suddenly sound like his mother?"

"You do not sound like my mother," Sirius grumbled, his gaze suddenly turning dark. "In order for you to sound like my mother, you would have had to demean me as a person at least three times by now."

Remus sighed heavily. "Not you're actual mother, per say," he said tiredly. "It's just a figure of speech. You know what I mean."

"How should I know what you mean?" Sirius suddenly snapped, his eyes flashing dangerously. "When that's the only mother figure I've ever known?"

"Okay, let's all calm down," James finally said. He could see that Sirius was feeling trapped and much like a cornered animal he was going to be nothing but defensive. Slowly and using more effort than he should have needed, James pushed himself up the wall until he was standing once again. He glanced over at Remus and spoke softly. "Why don't you go wait in the dormitory? I'll handle this."

"You sure?" Remus asked.

"I can hear you, you know," Sirius spoke up loudly.

James sighed. "Yeah."

Remus merely nodded. With one last concerned glance back at where Sirius sat, he turned and headed out of the room.

For a minute, neither James nor Sirius moved. Finally, James walked forward and settled himself on the floor of the stall, leaning up against the opposite wall that Sirius was so that he was facing him.

"What's got Moony's knickers in a twist?" Sirius said with a snort.

"He's worried about you," James stated bluntly. Sirius flinched at that, looking away. "We all are." James paused for a moment. "You want to tell me what's going on?"

"What are you talking about?" Sirius asked, still not looking in James' direction.

"Sirius, you went to Hogsmeade _alone_ and apparently drank the Hog's Head dry," James said. "I know none of us have been known to practice any kind of temperance, but we also don't go off and get smashed by ourselves on school nights." Sirius rolled his eyes, seeming content to brush that off. James' gaze wandered to look at Sirius' left arm. At some point, Sirius had pulled the sleeve more securely down around his wrist and was holding it up against his side almost protectively. If James hadn't been looking for it, he probably wouldn't have noticed. "You've apparently turned yourself into a human ashtray." He said it quietly, but Sirius' eyes shot in his direction at the words.

"What do you mean?" he said a little too quickly. James met his eyes for a moment but Sirius quickly looked away again.

"Let me see your arm," James said softly.

Sirius went completely still at the question, seeming to forget to even breath. After a minute, James leaned over and took Sirius' arm. Sirius didn't resist. He simply watched with a hauntingly blank look on his face as James carefully rolled his sleeve up to his elbow. It looked even worse up close. Small circles dotted his inner arm, some were bright red and fresh, others were faded to dull pink that almost blended in with his skin. They were all the exact size of the butt of a cigarette.

James swallowed, not sure if he was more disturbed by the new marks or the old ones. How long had this been going on?

"Care to explain this?" James prompted gently after the silence had gone on for a painful amount of time.

"Sometimes my cigarette… slips," Sirius mumbled lamely, pulling his arm out of James' grasp.

James ran a hand through his hair, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Sirius really couldn't expect him to believe that, could he?

"I don't understand why you won't talk to me," James said. "Friends since we were eleven years old has to be worth something, doesn't it?" Sirius was silent. "Does it have something to do with your family? Why you weren't allowed to visit at all this past summer?"

"You wouldn't understand," Sirius said, looking away.

"Try me," James persisted, desperation making it's way into his voice.

Sirius sighed heavily, his eyes studying his hands as they fidgeted in his lap. He was silent for several long minutes and James did his best to wait patiently as his friend tried to organize his thoughts.

"You ever feel like… your whole life is out of your control?" he said slowly. He didn't wait for a response. "Like… you're stuck in the middle of an ocean, just being tossed around by the waves. You can swim all you like and you think you're making progress, but then a wave crashes over you, showing how lost and broken you really are."

"What happened, Sirius," James pressed, leaning forward and looking at his friend intently. "What's changed this past summer?"

"My parents sat me down at the beginning of the summer," Sirius said, spitting the words as if they left a bad taste in his mouth. "Said that I had to start thinking about my future. Then they proceeded to tell me what _they_ wanted from my future." He snorted.

"I take it that didn't go well," James said, rolling his eyes at the very thought.

It was no secret that Sirius didn't get along with his parents. Practically the whole school knew that just from the regular Howlers Sirius would get over breakfast several times every year. James had never liked Sirius' parents either. It had all started on their very first morning at Hogwarts back in their first year, when Sirius' parents had sent him his very first Howler for being Sorted into Gryffindor. That alone was enough for eleven-year-old James – proud to be Sorted into the same House his parents had been in – to form his opinion of Orion and Walburga Black.

James had visited Sirius' house a grand total of two times in all their years of friendship. Despite the fact that the Potters, Lupins and Pettrigrews had each hosted all four boys on countless occasions during their breaks from school, only James had been invited to the Blacks' residence, and this had been many years ago. James had been immediately put off that Remus and Peter couldn't even enter Number Twelve Grimmauld Place based solely on who their parents were, but not so much so that he thought of refusing the invitation to visit one of his closest friends.

Meeting Sirius' parents had been a painfully proper affair. James had been shocked by the contrast between his parents and Orion and Walburga Black, finding the latter to not only be close minded and prejudiced – he had been expecting that much – but also cold, distant and sharp, even to their two sons. Two visits to that house had been more than enough for James, and he hadn't been back since.

"Good guess," Sirius said flatly.

"They've always been like that though," James went on when it became clear that Sirius wasn't going to elaborate any further. "Ever since first year they've been going on about how they want you to be. It's never seemed to bother you much before."

Sirius squeezed his eyes shut as he ran his hands over his face. "It's… it's never seemed real before. They talked about this far off future that hardly even seemed real, so it was easy to brush it off." He took a deep breath. "But now, when they're talking about who I can be engaged to in the next year and how I can fit in with the _family business_ …" he spat the words sarcastically and then went on before James could ask what he meant. "Suddenly it all feels too real. And when they declared that I was no longer allowed to see my friends outside of school, that I had to spend my time with people more worthy of one from the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black… well something in me just… snapped."

"You'll be of age in just another year," James insisted. "Then they can't make you do anything you don't want to."

"I wish it were that simple," Sirius murmured.

They lapsed into several minutes of silence.

"Why didn't you tell me all this was going on?" James finally asked quietly.

Sirius snorted. "Because I'm not supposed to let this stuff get to me. I'm a Marauder. Everyone sees me as a carefree, prankster who sees everything as a joke and doesn't take anything seriously. No one's supposed to see… _this_." He made a motion to encompass his slumped form on the floor of the bathroom.

"No one?" James repeated. "Not even you're best friend?" He paused but Sirius made no attempt at a response. "Sirius, you can't keep a part of yourself hidden all the time. That's something your parents would want from you. Not us. Not your friends. Keeping all this bottled up is destroying you, can't you see that?"

"Maybe that would be for the best," Sirius said so softly it was barely more than a whisper.

James openly gaped at him. "How can you say that?" he asked. When Sirius seemed content not to answer, James shifted himself until he was sitting against the same wall as Sirius. "Hey. Look at me." When Sirius didn't comply, James placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "Sirius. Look at me." Mechanically, Sirius turned his head and reluctantly met his eyes. "I want you to carefully listen to what I'm about to say. You are my best friend. I don't know what I'd do without you. If I were to lose you… I very well might lose myself as well." He paused and then gave a small smile. "So let me know if you ever have plans to jump off the Astronomy Tower so that I can clear my plans for that week. Because I'll be jumping with you."

Sirius snorted a laugh as a small, ghost of a smile graced his lips just for a moment. "Will do," he said a bit gruffly.

"Sirius, tell me something," James said quietly as he grew serious once again, knowing that they hadn't yet gotten to the core of the problem. "Why do you feel the need to hurt yourself?"

Sirius was silent for a good long while, so much so that James was pretty sure he wasn't going to answer when he finally took a deep breath and spoke.

"I don't want to be like them," he mumbled, his voice cracking, his eyes never wavering from studying the marks along his arm. "I don't want to be… cold and unfeeling like them. But sometimes, when things get overwhelming, it's like I stop feeling anything at all. I want to feel… something. Anything."

"You're not like them," James said firmly. "You'll never be like them. You know why? Because I won't let you. Remus and Peter won't let you. We're all here for you. You don't have to hide this from us."

Sirius nodded, his eyes glassing over. "I'm… I'm sorry. About all this."

"There's nothing to apologize for," James assured him. "This is what family is for. Even if your biological family can't understand that, we certainly can." He took a deep breath. They couldn't conquer the world in one night. "How about we get some sleep before breakfast, okay?"

Sirius only nodded. James slowly pushed himself up to his feet and then reached down to help Sirius up. As Sirius stood, he pulled his sleeve down seemingly without thinking about it. James made no comments about it. Instead, he simply led Sirius out of the bathroom, supporting him as he still seemed unsteady on his feet.

Out in the dormitory, Sirius headed straight for his bed. He kicked off his shoes before climbing in, clearly uninterested in changing into his pajamas. As he lay down on his bed, James reached up and pulled the curtains, granting him privacy.

As he crossed the room, heading for his own bed, James spotted Remus sitting on his bed, looking worried. James jerked his head, indicating that Remus should follow him to the other side of the room before they spoke.

"How much did you hear?" James asked softly, knowing that Remus wouldn't have gone far when he asked him to leave the room.

"Most of it," Remus said. He shifted uncomfortably. "Do you think he's going to be okay?"

James nodded. "I think so." He paused. "I hope so. At least now we know what's going on anyway."

"How has he been hiding this from us all this time?" Remus pressed. "How have we never noticed before?"

James' eyes wandered over to Sirius' closed curtains. "He grew up having to hide parts of himself from his parents. Trying to fit into what they wanted him to be until he came to school and realized he didn't have to live his life exactly how they wanted him to. But still, he knows how to put on a mask of what everyone wants to see. If you don't know what you're looking for, it's hard to see past that."

Remus nodded. "I suppose you're right." He sighed. "Well, we still have a few hours before we have to be up for breakfast."

"Yeah," James agreed. "I'm ready for this night to be over."

They each crawled into their respective four posters. But James hesitated before he pulled the curtains closed, looking through Remus' bed to where Sirius' bed sat on the other side. It wasn't until Remus pulled his curtains closed that James finally pulled his closed as well.

It had been an eye opening night. James had thought he had known Sirius so well after all their years of friendship, but as it turned out you only knew as much about someone as they wanted you to know. James was just grateful that they had found out Sirius' secret before it had a chance to get worse. They would help their friend. He was sure of that.

* * *

 **The Fairy Tales Challenge Prompts:**

 _ **Fairy Tale (10 pts) -**_ Beauty and the Beast - Write about seeing beyond appearances.

 _ **Dialogue (5 pts each)**_ \- "If all your friends decided to jump off the Astronomy Tower—No, don't answer that."

 _ **Word (5 pts each)**_ \- Temperance

 _ **Songs (10 pts each)**_ – When You Come Back to Me Again – Garth Brooks

 **Total Points: 30**

* * *

 **Challenge Your Versatility! Event**

Write a sick!fic – **5 points**


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